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Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness Review/Transcript
Master Shifu: 'The point of "sneak attack training," is to do...the unexpected. *makes face at Po* '''Po: '''Wha? '''Master Shifu: '*knocks Po over* See? Unexpected. (Intro) 'Po: '*fighting sounds* 'Announcer: '''And now...Dreamworks' ''Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness! People know Kung Fu Panda ''as Dreamworks'...most surprising property. '''Po: '''I figured it out. Skidoosh... ''(Cue explosion) From the title alone, it seems like a really stupid concept. The fact that it has Jack Black as a panda, gives you an impression of a certain kind of juvenile humor. Filled with stupid quips, awkward faces, and a good dose of jokes revolving around butts. But surprisingly, the movie and its sequels have proven to be one of Dreamworks' most beloved properties. Some people would put the Kung Fu Panda ''series up there with some of Dreamworks' absolute best. In most cases it's really only second to ''How to Train Your Dragon, in terms of a Dreamworks series of films. So it makes sense for this one to be a TV show. On the surface at least... One thing that you have to understand about the ''Kung Fu Panda ''series of films, is that it's an ''incredibly tight balance that they had to work with. Martial arts comedies are a dime a dozen, but a martial arts comedy that takes its martial arts seriously ''and attempts to have such a serene atmosphere and go deep into the actual philosophies of martial arts...that takes a lot of time, a lot of effort. And even then, it's really easy to screw up. You are walking a tightrope. I know this because ''Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness ''is the kind of movie that you imagine ''Kung Fu Panda ''would be before you watched it. While it's not the worst show that I've ever seen, the ''Kung Fu Panda ''cartoon has a whole host of problems. The least of which is probably the animation. Like the other Dreamworks shows, there has been a noticeable decline from the actual films. Although, it's probably worse than most of the other Dreamworks cartoons to be honest. That's because in the movies, most of the characters do have some kind of visible fur. It's a nice detail that really helps the characters seem realistic. When you remove that like you do here in ''Kung Fu Panda, it makes the characters seem more like toys than animals. Not to mention that the lower budget overall of the animation really'' does hurt the overall product. There are a...lot of stupid faces in the show, which at the best of time tend to be lazy excuses for jokes, but because the animation is, to be quite honest, poor, they never look right in this show. Po looks more like a sack of jelly than a character making an expression. It's not...the worst animation that I've ever seen, and at the very least the actual "kung fu" action does hold impact, but still this is the lower end of Nickelodeon 3D animation. And can we please talk about the voice acting? Jack Black has a ''very recognizable voice. So it's incredibly obvious that the guy playing Po in the series is just someone doing a..."not the best" Jack Black impression. I know this because it really seems like Jack Black did the theme song, so you got a perfect comparison as to how "not Jack Black" Po the Panda is in the series. I get it, he's a little bit too expensive to hire for an ongoing series. And I mean, generally speaking, the only time when you can get a celebrity to be a main character in a cartoon like this, is when it's the celebrity's ''cartoon. Like with ''Camp Candy,'' or the Eminem cartoon or...''Mike Tyson Mysteries...probably the only one that I can think of that is actually any good. Here's an idea though; maybe not have the actual voice does the theme song? The theme song is garbage anyway by the way. Maybe it's not Jack Black though, and, their impersonator is a lot better when it comes to singing than acting. Whatever the case, it's...really lazy and it feels shat out. And when we're talking about Jack Black, I expect at least a little bit more musical talent than what we got in the theme song. It's not like there's no one on Earth who could replicate Jack Black's voice. Even his singing voice. As we've established with "See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey," Jess Harnell does a'' really good job. At least in terms of what the actual voice sounds like. Then again on second thought, I don't know why they didn't get Jack Black to voice in the show, since they do use quite a few celebrity guests. Like Wallace Shawn, in the episode where Po destroys the training ground. And it-it's ''really noticeable. But where this show suffers the most is in its comedy. I'm just gonna say it, the comedy in this show is horrendous. It's not offensively bad or anything like Mighty B!. It's not gross, or actively annoying, it's just...awkward, stupid and cringe-worthy. Like I said, the show has the kind of jokes that Kung Fu Panda ''and Jack Black get ''stereotyped as doing. There's lots of jokes about butts, there's cringe-worthy ways of speaking, throwing modern references in a place that it does not belong. And when the jokes aren't like this, they're incredibly predictable. Po leaves behind a bowl of dumplings. But because he's fat, he goes around and gets one. Because he's fat, he grabs another. Because he's fat, he grabs another. And because he's fat, he grabs the whole bowl. This is the level of comedy of the entire show. You might get some entertainment out of this if it's like your first comedy ever, so I'm pretty sure that kids would have been moderately entertained by it. And on that level, it-it is not the worst thing ever, you could do far worse even on Nickelodeon. Especially because when the show isn't'' trying'' to be funny, it can actually be kind of good. Yeah, this show actually puts a lot of effort into the action. It's kept constantly fast-paced and exciting. It does have some of those martial arts cliches that I've kinda come to hate. Characters not just screaming as they do martial arts but doing it as ridiculously as possible. But other than that, each blow is animated quite well and you are able to feel the impacts. They use the forms and types of the animals really well in order to be creative. And not only that, when the show...sits down to tell a serious story with some darker themes, the show can actually be quite involving. Until Po stops the backstory to talk about his butt. In a way, it does kinda remind me of Danny Phantom. In that show I loved everything about it but its humor. The humor in that show ended up being too cliche, but it was at least tolerable there. This show takes that problem a few steps further. It's at a point where I really do wanna be invested in the story, but the humor is ''so ''bad it takes you out of it instantly. It's like you're watching a really intense movie or hearing this super ''deep story. But every so often, a giant panda reaches over your shoulder and makes a farting noise in your ear, and then tries to lick it. It's not a balance that ''can't be done. I do apologize for bringing this up again, but Avatar. Avatar ''managed to be humorous, but it could still tell these ''really ''deep, involving stories without the tone basically attacking itself. If ''Avatar ''is an example that's "too worn" for you, another one would probably be ''Xiaolin Showdown. In a way Xiaolin Showdown ''does feel a lot like a proto ''Avatar, or, a better Captain Planet. But it really does feel like it did what this show was trying to do and it did it a ton better. Xiaolin Showdown ''was a martial arts show. It didn't get too deep into philosophy, although it was still there occasionally, but it had a really good balance of comedy and action. I'd say that you should watch that show instead of this, and that's really sad, because...when the conflict is actually able to escape from the stupid slapstick, this show is far better than ''Xiaolin. Half of this show is in this super-serious tone that I really do like. It shows actual ''people dealing with very serious, deep problems. The other half is bad ''Looney Tunes ''antics and fart jokes. '''These do not go together in the same episode! It-it's ''not ''the worst show out there. It's better than some of the things that I've seen lately. I'd give it an A for effort, I suppose, but I'd give it a D for the grade that actually counts. I guess altogether that puts it in a "lower C" tier? I can definitely watch this show, but I'm not gonna seek it out anytime soon. It's nowhere' near as good as ''Penguins of Madagascar. And that makes me worried of Monsters vs. Aliens, considering that show is based on a movie ''that most would call bad. '''Announcer: '''Next on Nickelodeon, it's- ''(Shows a montage of clips from The Legend of Korra while epic music plays) '''Bolin: ''The Avatar! ''(End Credits Theme: ) Category:Nick-o-Rama Category:Transcripts